Brief Encounter was laughed at by audiences when first released, and Dr Zhivago was scorned by critics. Now, argues Michael Newton, we can appreciate them as two of the greatest love stories committed to film

In 2014, I interviewed Omar Sharif, the Egyptian legend who died last week. A month later the actor, was entertaining my family and me at his hotel, telling us how he and Peter O’Toole coped in the desert and about the star who broke his heart